This month, Brianna Bourne and Jennifer Lynn Barnes celebrate their YA novel, Rina Heisel launches a new adventure, and Madison Murphy flips for a great read.
(Not Quite) The End of the World
On July 17, Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston hosted a launch celebration via Zoom for the dystopian and romantic YA novel You & Me at the End of the World (Scholastic Press) by debut author Brianna Bourne along with Jennifer Lynn Barnes, author of The Inheritance Games (Little, Brown). Moderated by bookseller Cathy Berner, the virtual event discussed the writers’ creative processes, how they develop their characters, their love for the YA genre, and what readers can expect next.
Journey Beyond the Burrow
The Richardson Nature Center in Bloomington, Minn., held a book launch earlier this month for Journey Beyond the Burrow, a middle grade novel by Rina Heisel (HarperCollins). The event included a nature scavenger hunt, a book signing, and plenty of cake. It was a fitting setting for a woodland adventure story about a mouse’s journey to save his baby brother from a sinister evil.
A Summer-saulting Read
Getting into the Olympic spirit, Madison Murphy, bookseller and marketing manager at Watermark Books in Wichita, Kans., turns a cartwheel in front of the bookstore while holding a copy of Flying High: The Story of Gymnastic Champion Simone Biles by Michelle Meadows and illustrated by Ebony Glenn. Filled with more flips, this picture book catalogs Olympic star Simone Biles’ love for gymnastics from her adoption at an early age up until her record-breaking routine on the Olympic stage.
